Just got this in—finally! Ta dah! The cover for Crucible of War!

We debated on whether we ought to stick with patriotic red and blue for the background, but I decided I really want a little more variation for the series covers. Green was a popular color during the Revolution for uniforms on both sides, and I thought it would go well with this image, so we gave it a try. I think it turned out well—kudos  to our designer, Marisa! What do you think? Isn’t it pretty?

I got an email Friday from my contact at Christian Book Distributors, and they want to feature Crucible in their Fall Fiction catalog. Wooo hooo!! But this time they want not only a long and short synopsis, but also a galley or the entire manuscript. ACK!!!! I still have several chapters and 2 major battles to write, so I’m sequestered in my writer’s cave writing madly. But I’m telling myself this is a good thing because I NEED to get this puppy done if we’re going to release it in September, which is bearing down on us at warp speed.

I just love the intriguing tidbits I run across while doing research, and I found a particularly hilarious one for the Battle of Bandywine, which took place September 11, 1777. The following is from Rebels and Redcoats by George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin, an invaluable resource I snagged at a library used book sale back when I was first writing Daughter of Liberty, so it may well be out of print. It includes eyewitness accounts of the major battles, and I turn to it often.

“At length, around four-thirty, the ominous growling of cannon, followed by the sharp volleying of muskets and the crack of rifles from the extreme right announced to Washington that indeed he had been outflanked and that Sullivan was in heavy action. Meanwhile, a thunderous cannonade commenced at Chad’s. Soon he began to guess that more than two brigades of the enemy were engaged with Sullivan and that he ought personally to join him. . . . To guide him on the shortest course to the point of action, he snatched up a neighboring farmer, Joseph Brown. Brown’s brief adventure at the battle was recorded by a friend:

Brown was an elderly man and extremely loath to undertake that duty. He made many excuses but the occasion was too urgent for ceremony. One of Washington’s suite dismounted from a fine charger and told Brown if he did not instantly get on his horse and conduct the General by the nearest and best route . . . he would run him through on the spot. Brown thereupon mounted and steered his course direct towards Birmingham Meeting House with all speed, the General and his attendants being close at his heels.

He said the horse leapt all the fences without difficulty and was followed in like manner by the others. The head of General Washington’s horse, he said, was constantly at the flank of the one on which he was mounted, and the General was continually repeating to him, “Push along, old man. Push along, old man.”

Can’t you just see this scene? I LOVE it!! It beautifully personalizes Washington and communicates the urgency and emotions of the moment so vividly you feel as if you’re right there. You can bet this account is going to show up in Crucible. LOL!